The present application, or disclosure, relates to a surgical stapler and methods of applying surgical staples to body tissue. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to surgical staplers utilizing plastic staples, and methods of applying plastic surgical staples to body tissue.
There is an increasing use of surgical staplers to unite, close or secure body tissue such as intestine, lung, stomach, and esophagus. Stapling tissue in most instances produces less scar tissue formation, requires less time and simplifies previously difficult surgical procedures when compared with traditional suturing methods. Surgical staplers of the type used in these procedures function generally by clamping body tissue between two opposed jaws of the stapler to a desired thickness, and firing staples through the tissue to unite, close or secure the tissue.
Surgical staplers can be provided in many forms, such as a single staple application-type stapler, a circular stapler, and a linear stapler. Each of these types of surgical staplers include a pair of clamps or jaws movable from an open to a closed position to clamp body tissue there between. The staplers include ejection means for ejecting at least one staple from one of the clamps, through the clamped tissue and towards the other of the clamps. Barbed ends of the staple are bent over against the other of the clamps to secure the staple in the tissue.
Circular and linear type staplers are typically designed to apply multiple, concentric or parallel rows of staples. These types of staplers can additionally be provided with a movable knife between pairs of staggered staple rows, in order to make incisions in the tissue between the stapled portions of the tissue.
Usually, surgical staples are made of a metal that is bio-compatible, but not bio-absorbable. The metal staples, therefore, must eventually be removed by another device such as a staple extractor, which is not only time consuming but can cause discomfort and pain to the patient. Plastic staples, in contrast, can be made bio-absorbable. In addition, plastic staples are often more bio-compatible than metal staples, and often do not effect medical diagnostic techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging, computer tomography scanning, and ultrasound detection, to the same degree as metal staples. What is desired, accordingly, are surgical staplers utilizing plastic staples, and methods of applying plastic surgical staples to body tissue.
In response, the present disclosure provides a surgical stapler utilizing plastic staples, and ultrasonic welding to secure the staples in body tissue. The stapler includes a pair of jaws movable between open and closed positions, a handle and trigger assembly for controlling operation of the jaws, and an elongated tubular structure connecting the handle and trigger assembly to the jaws. The stapler also includes an ejection assembly for ejecting at least one staple from one of the jaws against the other of the jaws. An anvil and a horn are positioned in the other of the jaws and are arranged to receive ends of the ejected staple such that the ends overlap between the anvil and the horn. The horn is for melting and bonding at least a portion of the overlapping ends of the staple upon being energized by a predetermined form of energy, and one of the anvil and the horn is movable from within the bonded staple to allow the jaws to be moved to an open position.
The present disclosure also provides another surgical stapler utilizing staples. The stapler is for ejecting at least one staple of resilient thermoplastic material having a base member and two legs extending from the base member to sharp ends, wherein the legs include overlapping distal portions for engaging body tissue. The stapler includes a pair of jaws movable between open and closed positions, an ejection assembly for ejecting a staple from one of the jaws against the other of the jaws, and posts for holding normally overlapping distal portions of legs of the staple generally parallel until the staple is ejected from the stapler.
Methods of stapling body tissue are also provided by the present disclosure. These and other features of the unique surgical staplers and surgical stapling methods of the subject application will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the following detailed description and the attached drawings.